"Returning to the core tasks": a qualitative interview study about how general practitioners in home health care solved problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Optimizing care at home, or home health care (HHC), is necessary as the population of care-dependent older people receiving care at home steadily increases. The COVID-19 pandemic tested Swedish primary care professionals as they provided HHC for a population of very frail older homebound people, but...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 91 - 101
Main Authors: Wachtler, Caroline, Bergqvist, Monica, Holmgren, Katarina, Mannheimer, Stina, Bastholm-Rahmner, Pia, Schmidt-Mende, Katharina
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar2024
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2024
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
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        atl: "Returning to the core tasks": a qualitative interview study about how general practitioners in home health care solved problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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        au:
          Wachtler, Caroline
          Bergqvist, Monica
          Holmgren, Katarina
          Mannheimer, Stina
          Bastholm-Rahmner, Pia
          Schmidt-Mende, Katharina
        affil: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
      sug:
        subj:
          COVID-19 Pandemic
          Problem Solving
          Physicians, Family
          Home Health Care
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Human
          Interviews
          Qualitative Studies
          Funding Source
      ab: Optimizing care at home, or home health care (HHC), is necessary as the population of care-dependent older people receiving care at home steadily increases. The COVID-19 pandemic tested Swedish primary care professionals as they provided HHC for a population of very frail older homebound people, but a better understanding of what healthcare workers did to manage the crisis may be useful for the further development of HHC. In this study, we aimed to understand how HHC physicians solved the problems of providing home healthcare during the pandemic to learn lessons on how to improve future HHC. This is a qualitative study of individual interviews with 11 primary care physicians working in HHC (8 women) from 7 primary care practices in Region Stockholm, Sweden. Interviews were conducted between 1 December 2020, and 11 March 2021. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. We generated an overarching theme in our analysis: Physicians focus on core tasks and professional values in response to crisis. This theme incorporated three underlying subthemes describing this response: physicians prioritize and resolve ethically challenging situations in new ways, cultivate the patient perspective, and build on existing teams. This study indicates that a healthcare system that gives HHC physicians agency to focus on core tasks and professional values could promote person-centered care. Optimizing care at home, or home health care (HHC), is necessary as the population of care-dependent older people receiving care at home steadily increases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, HHC physicians in Stockholm were able work person-centred and focus on clinically relevant tasks. A healthcare system that allows HHC physicians to focus on core tasks and professional values can promote person-centered care. Strategies to promote quality HHC include supporting physician autonomy, building on existing teams, and promoting collaboration between primary care providers and other caregivers.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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        research
        tables/charts
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      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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